Apparently people in the Energy City really, really want to sell cannabis in the southeast.

According to a release on Friday, the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority, the body governing the soon to be legalized substance, has received 61 applications to aquire the single retail permit allotted to Estevan.

"Actually it's even more than I expected," stated Mayor Roy Ludwig with a chuckle, "I mean, we knew there'd be a lot of interest, but wow."

"We thought that there would be a lot of interest, because right across the province, there seems to be high levels of interest. It'll be interesting, that's for sure, to follow this through," he added.

"It'll be interesting to see if the interest stays high, or if it's a novelty and the interest will go down after awhile. That remains to be seen, I guess."

Other centers saw some high numbers as well. Moose Jaw had 107 applications, and Weyburn had 50. Saskatoon had the highest at 177. The total number of applications from around the province total at 1,502.

Ludwig said that Council will be discussing the next step forward at their regular meeting on Monday.

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